(1) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a flowerpot, and, more particularly, to a flowerpot made of a deep-drawn plastic for a hanging basket.
(2) Description of Related Art
Flowerpots made of plastic are very widespread; injection-molded plastic pots offer a relatively high degree of freedom in the design of the pot and permit the insertion of webs, reinforcing ribs, branches in walls and the like. The design freedom is [determined] mainly by the requirement of unmoldability of the pot from injection mold and by minimum wall thicknesses for the flow paths in injection molding. When the injection molding material must be injected from an injection point at the bottom through thin-walled areas up to the edge of the pot, “freezing” in the form of solidification of material threatens to occur in the wall area.
Alternatively, there are also flowerpots and other plant pots made of plastic in a deep-drawn form, since attempts to control the wall thickness distribution of such a product have been successful, and in particular it has become possible to predetermine the wall thicknesses in the area of the conical pot wall; this would pose problems in the injection molding process. It is also of interest that the deep-drawn pot retains its greatest wall thickness at the upper edge, which is normally designed like a flange with a turned-down collar. A corresponding rigidity is also demanded there. This edge is formed by a ring-shaped insert of a plastic film which is to be deep-drawn and is brought in contact with a hollow mold in the inside area by using a mold and by applying an excess pressure on the inside and/or a vacuum on the outside.
The ring-shaped insert, however, necessitates a continuous edge contour without any interruptions or discontinuities. This edge contour is advantageously provided in flowerpots intended for hanging baskets or similar hanging use and in which a hanger having several strands, preferably three strands, is clipped to the edge of the pot by hook clamps. The hook clamps are thereby in a predetermined immovable position. Instead they may migrate along the edge and be displaced on the whole on one side of the edge of the pot, thus causing it to tip over. In the case of injection-molded flowerpots, a fixation of position would be easily achieved through intermediate webs or ribs beneath the edge, some of which are provided anyway, or by shaping and special contouring of the edge, which would be difficult or impossible to achieve with deep-drawn products.